Munster keep faith, Quins change three

With some 24 000 tickets sold by Wednesday, the clash between Munster and Harlequins at Twickenham on Saturday is set to become the biggest crowd for a pool match in the ten-year history of the Heineken Cup. And Munster have chosen their best possible squad for the match which is more important to them than to the Harlequins.

The previous record was 23,463, which was set last season when Leinster played Cardiff at Lansdowne Road.

Munster top Pool 4 with every hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Harlequins are rock bottom with no hope of qualification.

But when the teams met at Thomond Park in October Harlequins gave Munster a tough time. The home side won 15-9, two tries to none. Munster will want to do well, because they always want to do well and because Castres are breathing down their necks, just two pool points behind.

Strong Rob Henderson is back in the Munster team. He is the only change to the team which beat the Ospreys though Shaun Payne is switched from centre to wing and Mossie Lawlor goes to the bench where he has taken the place of James Storey.

Quins make three changes to side that started against Castres Olympique last weekend, with Ugo Monye back on the wing for his first game since a hand injury sustained in October.

George Harder is the man making way for Monye, after suffering a dislocated finger in training on Wednesday.

In the pack, there are two changes in the back row. Nick Easter and Tony Diprose take over from Maama Molitika and Kai Horstmann on the blindside flank and at number eight respectively.

Quins are under something of an injury cloud at the moment; as well as Harder, André Vos (ankle), Will Greenwood (shoulder), Mike Worsley (back), Tani Fuga (knee), Maurice FitzGerald (back), Jim Evans (shoulder) and Adrian Jarvis (illness) are unavailable.

Teams:

Munster: 15 Christian Cullen, 14 Shaun Payne, 13 Rob Henderson, 12 Mike Mullins, 11 Anthony Horgan, 10 Paul Burke, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Anthony Foley (captain), 7 Denis Leamy, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Frankie Sheahan, 1 Marcus Horan,
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Gordon McIlwham, 18 Trevor Hogan, 19 Jim Williams, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Jason Holland, 22 Mossy Lawlor.

NEC Harlequins: 15.Gavin Duffy, 14.Simon Keogh, 13.Dafydd James, 12.Mel Deane, 11.Ugo Monye, 10.Andy Dunne, 9.Steve Sooialo, 8.Tony Diprose (c), Luke Sherriff, 6.Nick Easter, 5.Simon Miall, 4.Karl Rudzki, 3.Jon Dawson, 2.Ace Tiatia, 1.Ceri Jones
Replacements: 16.James Hayter, 17.Tom Muggridge, 18.Roy Winters, 19.Maama Molitika, 20.Andy Reay, 21.Jeremy Staunton, 22.Tom Williams

Date: Saturday, 15 January 2005
Kick-off: 13.00
Venue: Twickenham
Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy. with a high of 7°C and a wind from the south of 21 km/h
Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges: Jean-Luc Rebollal (France), tbc
Television match official: Daniel Gillet (France)
Match commissioner: Jonathan Dance (England)
Assessor: Martin Summerhayes